A man pumping iron in an Iowa gym was killed when a 315-pound barbell slipped from his grasp and fell on his neck, authorities said.

Kyle Thomson was bench-pressing Monday morning at the Elite Edge Transformation Center in Ankeny, Iowa, when he lost control of the weight.

Emergency responders rushed Thomson to a hospital in Des Moines, where he was pronounced dead.

A spokesman for the gym said there were spotters watching Thomson, 22, an Iowa State University student, on the bench.

A former co-worker of Thomson told the Des Moines Register that he will always remember the Pleasant Hill weightlifter for his “light-up-the-room smile.”

“Whenever he came around, it’d light you up because he always had a smile on his face,” said Stephen Smith, who worked with Thomson at a Lowe’s in Ames, according to the newspaper. “He’s just a very charismatic guy.”